What Should We Pray For?

Ephesians 3:12
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

What should we pray for, then?

The answer is easy...anything we need! Whether it is a big need or a small need or a need someone else has expressed and asked you to pray with them about, God cares about your needs. In fact, the Bible tells us that God knows what we need before we ask. (Matthew 6:8) He wants us to ask...but he already knows what we need.

So we can be confident when we pray, knowing that we are doing something that God has commanded us to do, something he wants us to do, and something that is effective. How do we gain confidence in prayer? How do we go from someone who mutters a hasty, "Thank you for our daily bread," when they're asked to pray before a meal to someone who can pour out their heart in prayer whether in public or private. How does prayer go from being an exercise in awkwardness to something that's as natural as a fish swimming in water?

That answer is also easy...practice. We should be praying every day, talking to God. Maybe the first...or hundreth...time you approach God, you don't have a clue what to say. Maybe you wonder why you have the right to even ask Him for anything or wonder if He cares what you have to say or what your needs are.

You should let your mind be at ease about those things. When you don't have a clue what to say, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26 says "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." If our prayers are halting or timid or we think they are not eloquent...that's okay. God sees your heart, and he hears the groans of the Holy Spirit. You may not think you have the smooth-sounding words of the practiced prayer warrior who spoke in the pulpit last Sunday before the offering plate was passed, but that doesn't matter. You're not being judged based on the way others pray, and in fact if God were judging us on our eloquence, even the most silver-tongued orator would not evenbegin to approach His standard of eloquent, so what difference does it make if you or I are a little less eloquent that that person? I wonder...from God's perspective, would there even be a measurable difference?

When you wonder why you have the right to ask God for anything, it is because He told us to...repeatedly. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you." (Matthew 7:7) The book of James tells us, "ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4:2)  John tells us "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask , we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (I John 5:14-15) We can and should ask of God because we're told to.

So next time you need something...whether it's a material need, wisdom to deal with a situation, a change of heart in someone you have to deal with...whatever the need, bring it to God and approach Him with your request with confidence.